Aleksandr Zharov, Gazprom Media Holding’s chief executive, said today (Tuesday) that Match TV would “continue to show the European competitions to the widest possible audience in Russia” and would “use all our resources to do this”.

In selling the rights for the three-season cycle, Team packaged the Europa League together with the new Europa Conference League. Rights to the top-tier Champions League were sold separately, but simultaneously, along with the Uefa Super Cup (in 2021, 2022 and 2023) and Uefa Youth League.

Team went to market on the back of an intensification of competition for sports rights in Russia. Internet company Rambler acquired English Premier League rights at the start of 2019 and rival Yandex picked up National Hockey League rights in September.

Russian OTT streaming service ivi has this season sublicensed digital Uefa club competition rights from Match TV to exploit on pay-per-view basis. Match TV has continued to showcase all rights on its platforms with ivi exploiting the rights on its general subscription service charging users on a pay-per-view basis.

The slew of media-rights deals agreed for the Korean K League ahead of its recent restart did not generate large revenues for international distributor Sportradar. But the league hopes to capitalise, in the years to come, on the boost to its profile, as one of the first competitions to restart after Covid-19-related shutdowns.

An invitation to submit offers has been launched in Russia for broadcast rights to the Uefa Champions League, the Europa League and the new third-tier Europa Conference League covering the 2021-22 to 2023-24…

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